CFL return to play 2021 Weeks 1-7

[TheLionKing]

The CFL returned to play this evening featuring of the rematch of the 2019 Grey Cup participants. Winnipeg as they did in the Grey Cup defeated the Hamilton Ti-Cats 19-6 in front of 29,000 fans. Thought the game was well played considering there was no football last year and no exhibition game this year.

[TheLionKing]

Calgary lost to the Argos on a late field goal. In the second game, Ottawa defeated Edmonton. Edmonton almost won it on the final play but was stopped on the 1 yard line. Both teams couldn't muster a touchdown.

[BC 1988]

That's good news for the Lions. With almost no interlocking games in the schedule, it was nice to see CGY and EDM drop their home openers to Eastern visitors.

[Belize City Lion]

Based on the calibre of the opening 4 games, I don't think we will see pre-season CFL games ever again. The next battle with the CFLPA will be about a possible 20 game regular season.

[TheLionKing]

Bombers leading the Argos 10-0 at the half in the Friday night game. Argos couldn't muster anything against the defending Grey Cup champions.

[TheLionKing]

Bombers improve their record to 2-0 with a 20-7 victory. I'm surprised that Dinwiddie kept Bethel - Thompson in til late in the 3rd quarter. Couldn't move the offence and missing wide open receivers.

[SammyGreene]

Alberta teams about to start season 0-4. Elks dominated at Commonwealth in all 3 aspects of the game.
Als are a must watch team every week with a very dynamic offence led by Vernon Adams. Funny we ran Kahri Jones out of town as OC because Jennings had hit a wall and replaced him with Jarious Jackson.

And great to see Barrin Miles as their new DC. A LOT to like about Montreal.

[TheLionKing]

Up next is Sask vs. Hamilton. Should be a good game.

[TheLionKing]

Game didn't live up to the hype. Riders dominant in every aspect of the game as they lead 30-9 late in the game. Frustrations boiled over late in the 3rd quarter with one player from each team getting ejected.

[SammyGreene]

So much for the team to beat. Ti-cats off to a dreadful start and it doesn't get easier for them after bye week with a trip to Montreal. Hamilton looks awful on offence — single digits in both their losses. Rourke moved the ball better against the Riders than Masoli did.

Elks and Ti-cats deserved to be at the bottom of next week's power rankings.

[DanoT]

Bombers improve their record to 2-0 with a 20-7 victory. I'm surprised that Dinwiddie kept Bethel - Thompson in til late in the 3rd quarter. Couldn't move the offence and missing wide open receivers.

Is having Jarious Jackson as OC part of a problem for the Argos, as well as a rookie HC in Dinwiddie?

[Hambone]

Is having Jarious Jackson as OC part of a problem for the Argos, as well as a rookie HC in Dinwiddie?

It's a bit early to start making those assumptions. It's almost the equivalent of the 2nd preseason game. Defences tend to have the upper hand and the Bomber defence has rendered both the Argos and Ticats ineffective. The Argos at least looked effective against Calgary. Of course that gave Winnipeg something the Stamps didn't have, game tape to prepare with.

The Argos are a defacto expansion team albeit with some high end talent. New coaching staff with less than 25% of the players returning from 2019. 34 players on yesterdays 45 man roster are new to the team including 10 starters listed amongst the 13 offensive positions listed on the depth chart. Only RT Jason Campbell, MBT and 13th man FB Declan Cross are returnees. They are working with 4 new OL, 5 new starting receivers and a new starting tailback. It would be foolish to think they would act like a consistent cohesive unit for a few games yet. Putting the blame entirely on the QB when he's trying to build rapport with an entirely new unit serves no purpose.

The backup QB, like the backup goalie, is often the most popular player with the fans but it doesn't mean the HC should treat his QBs like Mike "Capt Hook" Keenan treated his goalies. While perhaps frustrating to Argo fans the Argo O needs time to work together if they are to gel. Teams do try to make adjustments at half time. I think that is why we tend to see teams give what appears to the fans to be a struggling QB the opportunity to see if he can't gain traction with those adjustments. If he doesn't after 2 or 3 series then make the move. The better time to make the change, and the Argos might go with Arbuckle next game, is now. Declare Arbuckle the Wk 3 starter which of course gives him the 1st team reps all week. He stands a better chance to succeed that way.

[Sir Purrcival]

Edmonton may have some issues at O-Line and QB. Harris looked pretty awful last night. As for the Riders, I thought they were a bit arrogant . When your are winning big is the time to show some humility. No one likes losing and there was an awful lot of in your face stuff last night. Maybe just my dislike of Sask. but I did feel they were full value for the win. Hamilton looks to be really missing Tasker. He was clutch.

Agree about Montreal, they look like they have finally solved their issues at QB and shook off the AC era. Just goes to show you that as a team you can never stop looking and working on building that next iteration of player especially QB. AC played for so long and so exclusively, they never ever did develop another QB adequately and it took them many years to finally fix that.

And what is with Calgary? Man did they look mortal over the last two weeks. Their receiving corp seems very average and Mitchell sure doesn't seem like the same QB of years previous. But yeah very weird to see Alta 0-4 after two weeks of play.

Definitely some unexpected surprises in the first two weeks. Up seems down and down seems up and right now who really knows what is happening?

[BC 1988]

And what is with Calgary? Man did they look mortal over the last two weeks. Their receiving corp seems very average and Mitchell sure doesn't seem like the same QB of years previous. But yeah very weird to see Alta 0-4 after two weeks of play.

Definitely some unexpected surprises in the first two weeks. Up seems down and down seems up and right now who really knows what is happening?

May explain why BLM was so mere mortal. If you can believe anything said about starting QBs these days, another CDN QB may see his first career start Friday vs MTL.

[B.C.FAN]

And what is with Calgary? Man did they look mortal over the last two weeks. Their receiving corp seems very average and Mitchell sure doesn't seem like the same QB of years previous. But yeah very weird to see Alta 0-4 after two weeks of play.

Definitely some unexpected surprises in the first two weeks. Up seems down and down seems up and right now who really knows what is happening?

May explain why BLM was so mere mortal. If you can believe anything said about starting QBs these days, another CDN QB may see his first career start Friday vs MTL.

Calgary has placed Bo Levi Mitchell on the 6-game injured list. He played with a broken fibula suffered in the Stamps' Week 1 loss to Toronto.